As gaming becomes much more widely accepted by the
mainstream of today's society, the idea of using that
shared passion to have a positive impact on the world
at large is becoming increasingly common place.
For several years now, The Syndicate (www.LLTS.org) has
been using its annual convention (SyndCon) to raise
money for charity. This year was the 10th annual
SyndCon. It took place in Seattle during August
and for 5 days many game developers, hardware
manufacturers, friends and guests along with 200
Syndicate members gathered together for fun;
testing/feedback/consulting and, of course, raising
money for charity.

The Syndicate is a supporter of two charities:
The American Cancer Society and Youth Opportunity
Unlimited. The YOU team was present at SyndCon
2011 to share stories of the work that they do and how
the support from a group of gamers can and does make a
tangible difference to their success.

To raise money for charity, each SyndCon features a
raffle. There were over 500 items in the charity
raffle this year ranging from T-Shirts... to copies of
games... to Coolermaster and Fractal Design PC cases... to
gift certificates to the Sony store... to Alienware
Laptops... to weekend get-aways at a Texas Ranch... to
Razer gaming mice... and much more. Attendees
purchased tickets and there was a big drawing on the
final day of the event.

When all of the tickets were counted, $10,000 had
been raised for charity. Many of the attendees
took home prizes with many receiving bags stuffed full
of gaming-geek schwag of all shapes and sizes.
The money raised will help in the fight against cancer
and help keep under privileged kids off the streets
after school with mentoring, tutoring and other fun
activities.